Which telescopes can I use the Altair Mini Solar Wedge with?

Refractors only, up to 6 inches (152 mm) of aperture, and Altair rates it for all-day use on refractors up to 5 inches. Never use it on a telescope with a mirror: a Maksutov, Schmidt-Cassegrain, Newtonian or Ritchey-Chretien.

How do I set the brightness?

Turn the top turret, which rotates an AR-coated polariser inside the wedge, then lock it with the thumbscrew. In its bright setting Altair quotes exposures as short as 2 milliseconds with a fast CMOS camera.

Can I add a contrast filter?

Yes, but only after the wedge, on the eyepiece or camera side: the T-thread on top takes a magnetic filter holder, and Altair names its G-band, 540 nm continuum, NUV and CaK filters. Never put a filter, Barlow or reducer in front of it.

Where can I buy the Altair Mini Solar Wedge, and what does it cost?

The prices I recorded: £170 at Harrison Telescopes (UK), out of stock; $250 at Astroworld Telescopes (US), in stock; £170 at Altair Astro (Global), out of stock.

What have I not tested on the Mini Solar Wedge?

I have not measured the Mini's heat, its brightness range or its sharpness myself; those figures are Altair's.

Altair 1.25 inch Mini Solar Wedge review: white-light Sun

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 46 accessories on my board, against price
Rank	Accessory	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	GEMINI EAF	100 out of 100	£42
2	Generic Dew Heater	93 out of 100	£9
10	MeLE MiniPC	84 out of 100	£490
11	Altair Solar White Light Angle Eyepiece	82 out of 100	£170
17	Red light headlamp	77 out of 100	£6
33	ZWO EAF	51 out of 100	£199
38	Celestron 3x Barlow	45 out of 100	£145
45	SKY ROVER 2x54 Binoculars	28 out of 100	£139
46	365 Solar Telescope Cover	5 out of 100	£73

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 In my words
04 Watch it in my videos
05 Should you buy it?
06 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 82/100

Reviewed 17 Nov 2025 Updated 26 Sep 2026

Rank: #11 of 46 accessories
Verdict: Damon recommends

Written by Damon Scotting 2 min read

Buy it if

You observe or image the Sun in white light through a refractor of up to 5 inches.
You use 1.25 inch eyepieces or a camera and want the brightness set by turning a turret, not by swapping filters.

Skip it if

Your telescope has a mirror: Altair says a Herschel wedge must never go on a Maksutov, Schmidt-Cassegrain, Newtonian or Ritchey-Chretien.
You want prominences and the chromosphere: that needs a hydrogen-alpha telescope.
You use 2 inch eyepieces: the Mini takes 1.25 inch only.

Specifications and features

Altair 1.25 inch Mini Solar Herschel Wedge reviewed #11 of 46
Recorded UK price	£170
Type	Herschel solar wedge for white light, imaging ready
Product code	SOLWEDGE125
Fitting	1.25 inch push-fit adaptor with a T-thread on top
Brightness control	Rotating turret over an AR-coated internal polariser, locked by a thumbscrew
Protection	Internal ND filter; ceramic diffuser disc at the rear with air vents
Telescopes	Refractors only, up to 6 inches (152 mm); all-day use up to 5 inches
Weight	185 g
Light path	100 mm
Altair's heat test	4 hours on the Sun with a 152 mm refractor in midsummer
Filters after the wedge	Altair G-band, 540 nm continuum, NUV, CaK

In my words

“I'm using an Altair solar wedge to view the Sun in white light as well as an Altair contrast filter to make the sunspots on the surface of the Sun appear clearer.”

From the description of my Short, written

Watch it in my videos

IT'S BACK!?! · published 17 November 2025 · 0:15 · Watch on YouTube · 65,015 views, 618 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

0:00 My Altair Mini wedge on the telescope
0:05 The zoom eyepiece in the wedge
0:06 The Sun through the wedge and a contrast filter
0:12 The sunspot group up close

Should you buy it?

82/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

One wedge for the eyepiece and the camera: the brightness is set by turning the top turret, which rotates an internal polariser, not by swapping filters.
Altair says sunspot centres look much darker than through solar film, with the granulation of the photosphere in view.
A ceramic diffuser on the back takes the rejected heat; Altair ran the Mini on the Sun for four hours with a 152 mm refractor in midsummer.
A T-thread on top of the 1.25 inch push-fit adaptor takes a magnetic filter holder or a camera directly.
Light and short: 185 g, with a 100 mm light path.
It is the wedge in my Short: an 8-24 mm zoom in it on my refractor, and the sunspot group seen through it.

Cons

Refractors only: on any telescope with a mirror a Herschel wedge is dangerous.
White light only: sunspots and granulation, not the prominences a hydrogen-alpha telescope shows.
Nothing may sit in front of the wedge: a filter, Barlow or reducer there can crack or melt in the concentrated heat.
Takes 1.25 inch eyepieces and cameras only.

For white-light sunspots through a refractor, the 1.25 inch Mini is the Altair wedge I use: turn the turret for the brightness, and keep it off any telescope with a mirror.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Five questions, answered

Questions about the Altair 1.25 inch Mini Solar Herschel Wedge

Reviewed 17 November 2025 ·Updated 26 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. How this site is funded

Which telescopes can I use the Altair Mini Solar Wedge with? Refractors only, up to 6 inches (152 mm) of aperture, and Altair rates it for all-day use on refractors up to 5 inches. Never use it on a telescope with a mirror: a Maksutov, Schmidt-Cassegrain, Newtonian or Ritchey-Chretien. The specifications ↓
How do I set the brightness? Turn the top turret, which rotates an AR-coated polariser inside the wedge, then lock it with the thumbscrew. In its bright setting Altair quotes exposures as short as 2 milliseconds with a fast CMOS camera. The specifications ↓
Can I add a contrast filter? Yes, but only after the wedge, on the eyepiece or camera side: the T-thread on top takes a magnetic filter holder, and Altair names its G-band, 540 nm continuum, NUV and CaK filters. Never put a filter, Barlow or reducer in front of it. The specifications ↓
Where can I buy the Altair Mini Solar Wedge, and what does it cost? The prices I recorded: £170 at Harrison Telescopes (UK), out of stock; $250 at Astroworld Telescopes (US), in stock; £170 at Altair Astro (Global), out of stock. A record, not a live price The verdict, the readers and the sellers ↓
What have I not tested on the Mini Solar Wedge? I have not measured the Mini's heat, its brightness range or its sharpness myself; those figures are Altair's.